The Department for Education confirms that it will close a free school – The
Discovery New School in West Sussex – for the first time over inadequate standards
of teaching

The Coalition’s flagship free schools policy was dealt a major blow today when ministers announced that a failing primary was to close over “inadequate” teaching.

In the first move of its kind, the Government revealed that The Discovery New School in Crawley, West Sussex, would be shut within the next four months because pupils are receiving a substandard education.

The school – among the first to be opened as part of the controversial policy – was placed in special measures by Ofsted earlier this year after inspectors found poor leadership and lessons that were “consistently inadequate”.

The Department for Education has now written to the school's governing trust warning that “no improvement” has been made in recent months and little evidence has been found to suggest that it can be turned around.

Lord Nash, the Schools Minister said staff were “unable to deliver teaching and learning even at the most basic level with the consequence for the pupils of continued inadequate teaching for an unacceptable length of time”.

The Discovery – which was supposed to be part of the Montessori movement and has received millions of pounds of state funding – was told it must be shut by April.

Today, the Montessori movement claimed it wanted to play a more direct role in the running of the school but the attempt was blocked by the DfE.

The closure threatens to cause chaos for the 68 primary-age pupils remaining at the school who will be forced to find a new place two-thirds of the way through the academic year.

The move will also cause embarrassment to the Government after high-profile criticism of another free school, the Al-Madinah in Derby, which was also subjected to a damning Ofsted report.

Free schools are state funded institutions run by parents, groups of teachers and charities, independent of local council control. Some 174 have been opened so far, including 93 this year alone.

But Labour and teaching unions have lined up to attack the reforms which they claim puts responsibility for children’s education in the hands of people who often have little track record in running state schools.

It is also claimed that funding is going on some areas that already have a surplus supply of school places while other towns and cities struggle to accommodate growing numbers of pupils.

But the Government insisted the “swift action” taken over The Discovery showed that it would “not hesitate to intervene” in schools that are failing to provide pupils with a decent standard of education.

Three-quarters of free schools overall are providing a good or outstanding education, it was claimed.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Since the school was placed in special measures by Ofsted in May we have monitored progress closely.

“The Trust has not provided evidence they are making the changes required. Lord Nash has today notified the trust that the department will terminate its funding agreement at the end of the spring term.

“We are now working with West Sussex County Council to ensure the children affected have suitable alternatives in place and their transition is as smooth as possible.”

Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, said: “In his terrible rush to roll out the free school programme, David Cameron has abandoned high standards and basic safeguards and the pupils at the Discovery Free School have paid the price.

"David Cameron is damaging standards by allowing free schools to operate under a complete lack of local oversight, transparency and accountability and by allowing them to hire unqualified teachers."

Philip Bujak, chief executive of the Montessori St Nicholas Charity, which promotes the Montessori movement in Britain, insisted that it wanted to oversee the school to ensure it was being properly run but claimed the attempt was shunned by the DfE.

"Here was a clear case where we at Montessori advised the DfE, before they even granted Discovery permission to proceed, to allow us to oversee the implementation of the Montessori element and curriculum to ensure that taxpayer's money was protected and parents received the genuine article," he said.

"That advice was ignored and the net result is the waste of a large amount of taxpayers’ money, the name of Montessori tarnished through ignorance and a large number of parents very badly let down."

But Natalie Evans, direct of the New Schools Network, a charity set up to drive the free schools programme, said: "As early Ofsted results show, the majority of free schools are delivering on their promise to parents to provide an excellent standard of education.

"But, like any school, if free schools are underperforming they must be held to account. While realising how difficult this will be for parents and students at Discovery New School in the short term, we believe this is the right decision.”